Paddy “The Baddy” Pimblett will be getting a hometown fight.
The UFC announced on Friday that Pimblett will face Jordan Leavitt at UFC London on July 23 at The O2. The event will be the second time the UFC heads to London this year as they returned to the venue back in March. In the main event of UFC London, Curtis Blaydes will take on Tom Aspinall at heavyweight. The co-main event will also see the return of Darren Till vs. Jack Hermansson in a very intriguing matchup.
Paddy Pimblett is back!@TheUFCBaddy vs @Jojo_MonkeyKing is signed for #UFCLondon 🇬🇧
🎟️ Tickets on general sale tomorrow at 10am BST pic.twitter.com/oNLEYFkUJA
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) May 27, 2022
Pimblett (18-3) is coming off a first-round submission win over Kazula Vargas at UFC London back in March. Prior to that, in his UFC debut, he scored a first-round KO win over Luigi Vendramini in highlight-reel fashion. In both fights, he faced some adversity as his opponents landed some hard shots against him.
Before signing with the UFC, Pimblett was fighting for Cage Warriors and is the former Cage Warriors featherweight titleholder. During his time in the promotion, he has notable wins over Julian Erosa, Decky Dalton, and Davide Martinez. Before this fight was booked, the UFC war room showed Pimblett vs. Ottman Azaitar, but that will no longer happen.
Who Will Fight Paddy Pimblett in London?
Leavitt (10-1) is coming off a split decision win over Trey Ogden which was his second in a row after submitting Matt Sayles to get back into the win column after a loss to Claudio Puelles. In his UFC debut, he scored a vicious slam KO of Matt Wiman. The American earned his way into the UFC by submitting Jose Flores on the Contender Series.
UFC London July 2022 Fight Card
With the addition of Pimblett vs. Leavitt, UFC London is as follows:
- Curtis Blaydes vs. Tom Aspinall
- Jack Hermansson vs. Darren Till
- Charles Johnson vs. Muhammad Mokaev
- Alexander Gustafsson vs. Nikita Krylov
- Hannah Goldy vs. Molly McCann
- Paul Craig vs. Volkan Oezdemir
- Makwan Amirkhani vs. Jonathan Pearce
- Marc Diakiese vs. Damir Hadzovic
- Jordan Leavitt vs. Paddy Pimblett
